Brazilian lawmakers approve social infrastructure fund

The lower house of Brazil's congress has approved the government's creation of a fund to invest in social infrastructure.

The fund, called FIIS, will be allowed to invest in education, health and social security projects, the lower house said in a statement.

The fund will be administered by a management committee coordinated by the government's chief of staff's office, while state-run development bank BNDES will be the financial agent. BNDES will be able to invite other institutions to work as financial agents of the fund. 

The amount of money committed to the fund was not disclosed, but the resources will come from the federal government budget.

The creation of FIIS comes as the government has been trying to increase investments in social infrastructure through the public budget and also through PPP contracts.

Transnordestina train 

Meanwhile, lawmakers also gave state-run bank Banco do Nordeste the go-ahead to renegotiate terms, maturation and other financial conditions of loan operations linked to the Transnordestina rail project in the country's northeast.